Hypocritical rulers of Brunei breaking their own sharia laws.
By Jillian Lauren, in the Daily Beast
As a teenager, I was the mistress of his brother—who ‘gave’ me as a gift
to the sultan. And in just one night, we committed at least two offenses
under his newly implemented penal code.On Tuesday, I was greeted by
a familiar face when I read through the morning’s news: the sultan of
Brunei. He looks older now than when I knew him, of course, his face
doughier and more careworn.
When I was still a teenager, I was the mistress of the sultan’s brother,
the prince of Brunei. My usual stance is that they weren’t bad guys,
really. Just human and impossibly rich. I have often wondered what I
would have done in their place, given all the power and money in the
world. I’ve never come up with a satisfactory answer. Now the sultan is
making headlines for implementing Sharia law in Brunei, including a
new penal code that includes stoning to death for adultery, cutting off
limbs for theft, and flogging for violations such as abortion, alcohol
consumption, and homosexuality. There’s also capital punishment for
rape and sodomy.
I am no expert in international human rights. My only qualification in
commenting on this issue is that one drunken evening in the early ’90s,
the sultan and I committed at least two of the aforementioned offenses
as we looked down on the lights of Kuala Lumpur from a penthouse
suite.
Let me back up a bit.
I had barely turned 18 when I found myself at a “casting call” at the
Ritz-Carlton in New York for what I was told would be a position at a
nightclub in Singapore. When I got the job, I learned that the job wasn’t
in Singapore at all. Instead, it was an invitation to be the personal guest
of the notorious playboy Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the youngest brother of
the sultan of Brunei. At the time, the sultan was the wealthiest man in
the world. I was a wild child consumed with wanderlust. I was hardly an
innocent, but I was—when I accepted the invitation—very, very young.
I imagine the man I once knew, holed up in a posh hotel suite
somewhere, maybe with another American teenager in his lap, making
laws that legislate morality.
When I arrived in Brunei, I found out that the prince threw lavish parties
every night, in a palace with Picassos in the bathrooms and carpets
woven through with real gold. At these parties there was drinking (which
was not legal in public), dancing, some fairly hilarious karaoke, and,
most important, women—about 30 or 40 beauties from all over the world,
comprising a harem of sorts.
The prince was rakish and clever and yes, even charming at times. I
spent the next year and some change as his girlfriend. For a time, it
was an adventure both glamorous and exciting. It was also lonely and
demoralizing, and full of constant low-grade humiliations, including
being given to the prince’s brother as a gift. Although I was by no
means a prisoner, I wasn’t free to come and go as I pleased. By the end
of my time there, I felt 10 years older and still not wise enough. It took
me a long time to regain my footing, though I did find my way
eventually. My struggles were internal and they were my own. In this
context, they were a privilege.
Stoning is practiced or authorized by law in 15 countries now. It is
disproportionally applied as a punishment for women, often as a
penalty for adultery. Human rights groups, including Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch, consider it cruel and unusual
punishment and torture. According to the international rights
organization Women Living Under Muslim Law, stoning “is one of the
most brutal forms of violence perpetrated against women in order to
control and punish their sexuality and basic freedoms.”
And yet it is the privilege of the prince and the sultan to misbehave. The
picaresque escapades and legendary extravagances of the brothers are
indulged with a collective wink. For everyone else residing within
Brunei’s borders, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, freedoms are curtailed,
and those limitations now are potentially enforced by brutal violence.
Cast stones at me if you will for my past improprieties—plenty have. Of
course, those stones will be metaphorical. As the citizen of a free
society, it is my right to transgress, as long as I don’t break any laws or
impinge on the freedom of others.
It’s my prerogative to sleep with all the princes I damn well feel like. I
live with my choices.
As the citizens of Brunei face the erosion of their rights, I imagine the
man I once knew, holed up in a posh hotel suite somewhere, maybe
with another American teenager in his lap, making laws that legislate
morality.
Jillian Lauren is the author of The New York Times bestseller Some
Girls: My Life in a Harem.
By Jillian Lauren, in the Daily Beast
As a teenager, I was the mistress of his brother—who ‘gave’ me as a gift
to the sultan. And in just one night, we committed at least two offenses
under his newly implemented penal code.On Tuesday, I was greeted by
a familiar face when I read through the morning’s news: the sultan of
Brunei. He looks older now than when I knew him, of course, his face
doughier and more careworn.
When I was still a teenager, I was the mistress of the sultan’s brother,
the prince of Brunei. My usual stance is that they weren’t bad guys,
really. Just human and impossibly rich. I have often wondered what I
would have done in their place, given all the power and money in the
world. I’ve never come up with a satisfactory answer. Now the sultan is
making headlines for implementing Sharia law in Brunei, including a
new penal code that includes stoning to death for adultery, cutting off
limbs for theft, and flogging for violations such as abortion, alcohol
consumption, and homosexuality. There’s also capital punishment for
rape and sodomy.
I am no expert in international human rights. My only qualification in
commenting on this issue is that one drunken evening in the early ’90s,
the sultan and I committed at least two of the aforementioned offenses
as we looked down on the lights of Kuala Lumpur from a penthouse
suite.
Let me back up a bit.
I had barely turned 18 when I found myself at a “casting call” at the
Ritz-Carlton in New York for what I was told would be a position at a
nightclub in Singapore. When I got the job, I learned that the job wasn’t
in Singapore at all. Instead, it was an invitation to be the personal guest
of the notorious playboy Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the youngest brother of
the sultan of Brunei. At the time, the sultan was the wealthiest man in
the world. I was a wild child consumed with wanderlust. I was hardly an
innocent, but I was—when I accepted the invitation—very, very young.
I imagine the man I once knew, holed up in a posh hotel suite
somewhere, maybe with another American teenager in his lap, making
laws that legislate morality.
When I arrived in Brunei, I found out that the prince threw lavish parties
every night, in a palace with Picassos in the bathrooms and carpets
woven through with real gold. At these parties there was drinking (which
was not legal in public), dancing, some fairly hilarious karaoke, and,
most important, women—about 30 or 40 beauties from all over the world,
comprising a harem of sorts.
The prince was rakish and clever and yes, even charming at times. I
spent the next year and some change as his girlfriend. For a time, it
was an adventure both glamorous and exciting. It was also lonely and
demoralizing, and full of constant low-grade humiliations, including
being given to the prince’s brother as a gift. Although I was by no
means a prisoner, I wasn’t free to come and go as I pleased. By the end
of my time there, I felt 10 years older and still not wise enough. It took
me a long time to regain my footing, though I did find my way
eventually. My struggles were internal and they were my own. In this
context, they were a privilege.
Stoning is practiced or authorized by law in 15 countries now. It is
disproportionally applied as a punishment for women, often as a
penalty for adultery. Human rights groups, including Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch, consider it cruel and unusual
punishment and torture. According to the international rights
organization Women Living Under Muslim Law, stoning “is one of the
most brutal forms of violence perpetrated against women in order to
control and punish their sexuality and basic freedoms.”
And yet it is the privilege of the prince and the sultan to misbehave. The
picaresque escapades and legendary extravagances of the brothers are
indulged with a collective wink. For everyone else residing within
Brunei’s borders, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, freedoms are curtailed,
and those limitations now are potentially enforced by brutal violence.
Cast stones at me if you will for my past improprieties—plenty have. Of
course, those stones will be metaphorical. As the citizen of a free
society, it is my right to transgress, as long as I don’t break any laws or
impinge on the freedom of others.
It’s my prerogative to sleep with all the princes I damn well feel like. I
live with my choices.
As the citizens of Brunei face the erosion of their rights, I imagine the
man I once knew, holed up in a posh hotel suite somewhere, maybe
with another American teenager in his lap, making laws that legislate
morality.
Jillian Lauren is the author of The New York Times bestseller Some
Girls: My Life in a Harem.
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